Forlong - Rivers of Life

54
Rivers of Life, or Faiths of Man in all Lands.
W have still abundance of worship of trees and shrubs all over the world,
especially in India, and more espeeially among the aboriginal races. In a paper by
Mr Dawant, B.C.S., in the Indian Antiquary of November 1872, upon the Koch and
Palias tribes of Dinajpore, Bengal—who; it appears, are descended from a virgin
mother overshadowed by Siva—he says, that at all their holiest ceremonies they
always turn reverently to the risiing Sun-God, as Christians do to their Eastern or altar
window. At marriages they plant four plantain trees, on which to erect their bridal
house roof, and have as their choiest gifts Mango branches and water. As soon as a
mother is purified, she takes her babe, places it on a winnowing fan, and presents it
to the Toolai shrub. She places it before this, and then reverently salutes the “holy
basil” herself. A well is then rendered sacred by having a Mango branch placed in
it, and the child is carried towards it by women, who proceed to draw the holy water,
and pour it forth, “invoking the god to whom it is offered;” which god Mr D. does
not name, but who I doubt not is the Divine Mother, whose symbol water is; it may
be poured forth to the procreating Father God, personified in the Sun, regarding which
sce details under Aboriginal Tribes; here we probably see the origin of Baptism.
Mango branches are a prominent feature in all ceremonies. The Mango is the
“apple tree” of India, which Man in Indian tale tempted Eve with.
The leaves of the Margosa tree are thought by Brahmans to drive away devils,
and are always placed over the pyre of Sanyāsis, or men under a vow of affliction;
salt is generally also placed with the leaves. It is said that salt was also used upon
corpses in England: it is still used in parts of the Highlands of Scotland, and at
Roman Catholic baptisms, as an exorciser.
The stories of Keltic and Skandinavian peoples are full of the worship and
reverence of trees, shrubs, and parasites. Many of the Highlanders of Scotland to the
present time plant the Mountain Ash, or Rowan tree, near their dwellings and fields,
to keep away devils. If heath and fIowers be added to Rowan wands, the most important
services may be anticipated, and especially if all be thrice carried round fires
kindled at Bel-tine, or the May solar festival. 1
The Rowan, or Mountain Ash, will be always found near holy places and circles
or klāchans. It was absolutely necessary that on Beltane, or May-Day, all sheep and
lambs should pass through a hoop of the Rowan tree, and that on all occasions Scotch
shepherds be careful to drive their flocks to the hills with a Rowan wand. In all our
isles, where malign infuences are feared, it was necessary to put one of these over our
doorposts (the Delta, IOna, or Yoni). No churchyard should be without the tree;
and pious persons were in the habit of wearing a cross.a of Rowan, or Mountain Ash,
on a certain day of every year.
The Ash proper is the Skandinavian “Tree of Life,” the “greatest, the best, the
inscrutable,” “the life of all things”—the “ygdrasil.” It has a triple root one of
1 Col. Forbes Leslie’s “Early Races,” i. 101.